Gun Control: And Then They Came For The Museums

By Chris Eger

A centerpiece at Lithgow is a display of locally-made Enfield variants arranged to resemble the Australian Army’s Rising Sun badge. The guns would have to be turned into a “blob” under new requirement (Photos: Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum)
A last haven for guns that would have otherwise been scrapped by authorities, an Australian firearms museum is now confronted with the possibility they may have to mutilate their own collection. The Lithgow Small Arms Factory, which crafted Australian Lee-Enfields from 1912 into the 1950s when they switched to making inch-pattern semi-auto FAL rifles, is an icon in the country.
Some two decades ago, a non-profit group turned the facility into a museum to preserve both the factory and historic Australian firearms Staffed by volunteers, they take in unregistered guns during national firearm amnesty periods rather than have them torched by police. “We exist for the community and display a range of artifacts of historical, educational and community value,” the museum said
The museum houses this incredibly rare No 6 Mk I Lithgow Enfield “Jungle Carbine,” one of only a handful made
Now, Lithgow’s collection is the subject of a regulation passed in the Australian state of New South Wales to have museums that store arms make